Libertarianism, as a rule, attracts the most strident criticism from those who understand it the least. Expending little or no effort on research, critics barely familiar with libertarian ideas concoct an unappetizing stew of ideas - anarchism, egoism, and plain selfishness and greed - and mistakenly dub it libertarianism. Small surprise, then, that this ideological bouillabaisse tastes revolting. Such critics aren't describing libertarianism, but their own fanciful creation.

LIBERTARIANISM IS NOT "NO GOVERNMENT," BUT SHARPLY LIMITED GOVERNMENT

Solveig Singleton, director of information studies at the Cato Institute, 12 September 1997 In Defense of Libertarianism

Don't get us wrong: The government has an important place in society. Biggs writes, "Boiled down to the basics, libertarianism is based on the assumption that no government is good government." Well, no, that's anarchism, or lawlessness. "There can be no liberty without law," wrote the late F. A. Hayek, a Nobel laureate and prominent libertarian thinker. In The Road to Serfdom, Hayek explains why a strong but limited government is necessary to provide such vital functions as law, police, and courts - yes, paid for by taxes.

LIBERTARIANS ARE NOT GUILTY OF UTOPIANISM

Solveig Singleton, director of information studies at the Cato Institute, 12 September 1997 In Defense of Libertarianism

Another common mistake is to accuse libertarians of utopianism. Libertarians, just like everyone else, can see that markets don't work perfectly - but compared to, say, Cuba's wretched economy, free markets look pretty good. Libertarians don't promise utopia. They simply support a system that will - in general - result in a higher standard of living for more people than government intervention does.

Maybe would-be critics of libertarianism have run into self-styled libertarians who offer the kind of naive utopian arguments they present as "libertarian." If we were to use their critiques as the basis for a critique of liberal statism, or whatever nanny-government philosophy they espouse, we would conclude that modern liberals are closed-minded, ignorant of history, and naively believe that good intentions make good law. But of course, it doesn't make sense to criticize any idea based on what its least-informed defenders say about it.